


Water in the Bathtub and Other Mysteries

by Theseastar



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Jane Foster, BAMF Nick Fury, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Light Angst, Romance, Secret Admirer, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-05-25 04:45:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6180661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theseastar/pseuds/Theseastar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis didn't have a lot of mystery to her life. However, in the last week that seemed to change. She had water pooling in her shower, and a secret admirer and she wondered for a moment if perhaps those two things were connected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. He Said That She Said That Water Was Pooling In Her Shower

**Author's Note:**

> This story is definitely AU, this is not Winter Soldier compliant. I do not own anything Marvel related. I've recently fallen in love with this couple, mostly because I watched the CA:TWS again and noticed how hot he was and thought about what a cute couple they would be. So here it is! I hope you find it as funny as I do and don't be afraid to drop me a note! I love reading responses.

Chapter One

Darcy Lewis had a secret admirer. 

This was the first time anything in that nature had ever happened to her, and she, quite frankly, didn’t know how to take it. Growing up, she had always been something of a pariah – if anyone had a crush on her the last thing they were going to do was show it to anyone else (her included) She grew up the social pariah, the weird one, and for the most part, that was okay. Growing in the middle of Kansas with interracial lesbian parents she was as different as it got. So people, boys included, tended to leave her alone. Her sister, however was a different story. She was tall and willowy with long blonde white hair and a beautiful smile and everyone loved Madonna “Donna” Lewis. She had had a steady stream of boyfriends since she was in second grade. While Darcy was busy trying to figure out a way to keep her braces from scratching the insides of her cheeks, Donna Lewis was trying to deicide which boy was worth her time. But Donna never bragged and in fact tried to help Darcy as much as she could (As much as Darcy would allow.) But nothing seemed to do the trick.

And for the most part she had been okay with that, of course until High school when she was rapidly searching for a prom date and everyone looked away. She had eventually convinced one of the media nerds to go with her if he got his hands on her laptop (Which at the time had been brand new and pretty important) So he went with her and then they had awkward prom sex in the back of a parked limousine that didn’t belong to them. Darcy had gone home both sad and satisfied at the same time and immediately told her mom’s who offered her a cup full of birthday cake ice cream with sprinkles on top. She never spoke to or looked Brandon Roy in the eyes ever again. 

In college she was more experimental, but never managed to nail down something of a relationship. She had male friends of course that she occasionally slept with (and some female too) and did couply things together, but usually they ended up in relationships with other people before too long and she was once again third wheeling it. At the end of her freshman year she nailed down her very first relationship, Gale Hermes, an exchange student from Germany had fallen into her coy tutoring trap. They became something of official mostly because other people called them that and she spent a lot of time at his apartment to escape her dorm and her noisy dorm partner, who the moment she walked through the door began to incessantly babble. They spent the summer and until the middle of her junior year stealing kisses between classes and having hot cuddles at night. Soon he had to transfer and they agreed to split. The last she had heard of him he was engaged, he had invited her to the wedding but on the same day that the wedding was happening, Thor was falling from the sky. After a slanted, depressing, junior year she shipped off to her internship with Dr. Foster, hoping of course for adventure and something to tell her family about at Christmas. Forever in fear of being boring, she followed an Astrophysicist and her kinda-not-really father figure out to the desert to track readings and learn about the stars. 

Jane had become something of a salvation for her. Because while Darcy had always been the weird, boring one, Jane became that person in their friendship. They had a similar home life. Supportive, but distant and not really all that understanding. They were both equally lonely, and found solace in each other. And perhaps sisterhood. Thor falling from the sky just solidified that, because now they were stuck together for better or worse. Two days Thor flew up in the sky in a bolt of rainbow electricity, two things happened, one Coulson called and made his first offer to Darcy (“Your skills at organization and your political science are necessary in a job Field like Shield, if you ever need a job, give me a call. We’d be happy to have you.) and Darcy made a calculated call to university, switched to online classes and followed Jane around the world. From Florida to Germany (where she met up with Gale and his wife and introduced them to Jane) and then to New York. New York of course, after Aliens came raining down from the sky, by the time they showed up, Thor had already left planet, with his scrappy brother in tow. Jane had of course been devastated, but out of that fire came clarity. Tony Stark showed up at their hotel while they were having their weekly pity party. Cups of ice cream covered in whip cream, and cherries and Golden Girls playing on TV, he had without questions joined on. Laughing with them at the show and had two cups of ice cream before he offered Jane the job. Jane after much prompting and shaking from Darcy had accepted. 

And then Darcy made the call. She had learned that first, Coulson had passed away during the attacks in New York, she was able to get a little cry out of that, and then second, Director Nicholas J. Fury was looking for an assistant, she was his gal. 

Now, to be clear. This was a hard job. Getting used to someone who wore an eye patch and only said a few words a day was hard. He was a hard nut to crack. But men like Fury were also fairly easy to read. They just wanted to do the right thing, and if they had to mow a few people down in the way they would. But Fury was also a man who enjoyed the simple things in life and Darcy knew for sure that the only thing he wanted was to relax. So after a bumpy first two weeks, she stopped at the florist on her way in and put a cactus on Fury’s desk. He looked at her like she had grown two heads, the same way he looked at her when she walked in, in her polka dotted skirt. The same way he looked at her when she brought cookies for the office. But then she explained to him. 

“It’s low maintence, I water mine maybe twice a week, and they can live through anything. No matter where you go or how long you’re away it’ll always be here when you come back.” 

At that, Fury fully embraced his cactus, and in fact threatened an agent who prodded it a little to hard and made one of it’s tentacles dip. Her desk was stationed in front of Fury’s door that was in front of the door that led to his office. His wall was completely black and no one could see in or out (Darcy finally got him to admit that it was for intimidation purposes.) And since people rarely ever wanted to talk to Fury, they rarely ever talked to her. Because it was widely known that if you messed with Darcy Lewis, Cactus bringing and assistant extraordinaire – you messed with Fury. In order to get in to see Fury, you had to get past Darcy, which was harder than it sounded. 

Darcy wasn’t a tough gal by any means, but she would argue you around and around until your head popped off, and of course the gun strapped under her table, the industrial taser in her drawer kept her vigil. The main people she saw were department heads, Stark (Who offered her a job each time he saw her here and at the tower) and Councilmen. And of course the STRIKE team. They would come shuffling up to her desk, heavy boots hitting the floor as they came forward making a solitary slapping sound as they came. They would hand her a red folder to file away and allow them entrance into Fury’s office, where they buzz him for permission to enter. 

For the most part, Darcy liked her job. She made a good amount of money where she was able to chip away at her student loans and still pay rent and still have a few bucks to thrift dive for cute clothes. She could basically wear what she wants except for denim, even though she was still working hard to get Fury to sign off on a casual Friday. There weren’t a lot of surprises, she was able to check Facebook at work even though she had to tell everyone she worked as an administrator for local government it was fine. She spent most of her day filing, editing Fury’s public emails (No Director, you can’t use that word in this email! … No not that one either!) Listening to him rant, filing mission reports and of course going down to the watering hole to gossip to the other assistants. She kept up an ongoing message with Jane about all the new gossip – since she only the saw the woman on Taco Tuesday these days. There was nothing too unusual. Which was why, when she came in on Tuesday to a small vase of flowers (lilies!) Sitting on her desk, she was a little shocked. 

It was one of those one’s you buy in the grocery store that had candy filled in the bottom. Little silver wrapped chocolate, caramel filled hearts. On plastics sticks jammed between the flowers little gummy hearts shone. She stepped cautiously up to her desk, eyeing the vase strangely. She looked dubiously at the door to Fury’s office she walked up to it and punched her way in, and then made the two steps to his black double doors and knocked three times before entering. He was there, of course, in his regular get up. 

“Can I help you, Ms. Lewis.?” He asked without looking up. He managed to both speak softly to her and bark at her all at the same time. 

“Did you get me flowers?” He stopped writing for a moment and looked up at her, ink pen paused in hand. 

“Is it your birthday?” 

“No.”

“Then no. I didn’t get you any flowers.” He said, and kept writing.

“Did you see who put them on my desk?” She asked. He paused again. 

“Yeah, it was that blonde woman. From Hillmarks office.”

Laura. 

“Okay. Thank you.” She inched out the door. 

“Director Fury?” She called before she left. 

“Yes Ms. Lewis.”

“Have a good morning, and please accept my vacation time!” She gave a smile and shuffled out before he could toss a pen at her.   
She sat at her desk staring at the bouquet. She loved Laura, but she didn’t know why the other woman would get her flowers. So she called.

“Office 122, this is Laura can I help you or transfer your call?” 

“Laura. It’s Darcy.”

“Darcy! Oh my! Did you get your flowers?” She asked. 

“Yeah I did, I wanted to say thank you! They’re beautiful.”

“Oh I didn’t get them!”

“Well then… why did you put them on my desk?” She asked. 

“They were given to me.”

“By who?”

“Thomas in medical gave them to Jody in accounting who knew I was going up to put stuff in your mailbox and gave them to me to give them to you.”

“So they’re from Thomas in medical?” She was confused, because she had never met this Thomas. 

“No. Someone gave them to Thomas.” Laura said. 

“Well.. who gave them to Thomas?” She asked. 

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. Are you coming down for lunch today?” She babbled.

“No.. Maybe.. I’ll let you know. Thanks Laura.” She hung up and stared at the flowers some more. What a mystery. She stared at the flowers some more, almost hoping they would grow mouths and tell her what she wanted to hear. But since it didn’t look like they were going to do that anytime soon, she pushed them to the front of her desk where they could get the beam of sunshine on them and began her work. But she did take a photo and send it to Jane, explaining the situation. She didn’t get a message back right away and wasn’t expecting to. Her day went smoothly for the most part, she ended up eating lunch at her desk as Fury grew in one of his moods where he wanted to get everything done and handed her the extra paperwork. So she shoved a wrap from the cafeteria in her mouth and finished her work day without complaint. 

She had that night mostly forgotten about the flowers that she had brought home with her. She sat them in the windowsill above the kitchen sink and took all the chocolate out to eat and fill with water. She had mostly forgotten about them when she was taking her shower and discovered the water pooling in her shower. Now, Darcy Lewis loved her apartment, it was small, and a little shabby, but it fit her needs. Her mother's had hated it but Donna had understood, and loved it. She didn't live in a five star suit like Jane, but she definitely didn't live in a hovel. However her apartment, with how old it was it came with problems. Usually it was some wiring issues that her slumlord landlord could fix, or nothing that little spackle couldn't cover. But as Darcy shoved the edge of a wire hanger down the inside of the drain to unclog it, she noted that there was nothing there. So she put on a pair of old sweats, a tank top and a pair of rubber gloves and scooped most of the water out with a cup, and then tried to dig for the problem. In about two hours she had the tub empty and was tired so she made herself a quick dinner, and by the time she went to bed she had completely forgotten about it. That was until she came in that day, with an iced cinnamon chai tea latte and under her arm a bunch of files, and there it was, on the desk, a teal box. She approached it wearily, noting that it was from the bakery that was down the street from her apartment.

Golden Street Bakery.

She opened the box wearily the tip of one of her floral pens, inside were two perfect doughnuts, both covered in glossy chocolate and little chocolate balls. She picked up the box and strut into Fury’s office, she knocked three times and then let herself in.

“Director Fury?” He didn’t even look up from where he was making red marks all over a file. 

“Yes Ms. Lewis?” 

“Did you buy doughnuts?”

“No. But those were on your desk when I got here. And I ate one. They’re filled with fruit.” He said. She noted napkin on his desk with chocolate marks on it.

“Okay. Thank you Director.”

“Ms. Lewis?” 

“Yes?”

“Tell whoever your secret admirer is that the orange scones there are good, too.” 

Darcy blushed, and went back to her desk. 

It was a tad exciting, the news and the mystery. She would find who this person was, if it was the last thing she did.


	2. Ankle deep in the Vault.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The water is up the shins, and not even yellow roses will help that.

The leak in the bathtub was no better later in the week, as a matter of fact, it got worse. Darcy found that as she was showering the water had pooled up to around her shins, and then took over an hour to drain back down. She had made a late night run to the store to get some drain cleaner, dumped half the bottle down there and waited patiently, but it didn’t seem to help. She had left a million voicemails on her landlords phone, and had yet to hear back. 

Darcy found that in a week she was also no closer to finding her secret admirer than she was before. She didn’t get a treat after the doughnuts, but by Friday she had new flowers on her desk, she kept these as a trophy to show the admirer that she appreciated their efforts. But today was special. Today was self defense day. Darcy had been waiting for this for some time. She had been working on self defense since she started working for Shield, and she enjoyed it. But it also made her proud of herself. So that morning, instead of changing into her yellow dress she put it in a bag to change later and put on a pair of black shin length yoga pants and a loose black tank top. She shoved her feet into tennis shoes and went out the door. 

She was on her third mile on the exercise bike when the STRIKE team entered the training room, they always practiced separate from their basic class because of that one time one the STRIKE members got a little too friendly and broke a recruits arm. Instances like that happened all the time, which is why the STRIKE team was usually given wide berth. Not that any of them were particularly bad, they were always more than polite when they came to speak to Fury, asking politely for her to page them. But people had every right to fear them. Besides the obvious, they set of an aura of fear, the smelled like power.

They were the people who were called when the other’s would get stomach sick. She had seen, on accident of course, some the damage that they could do. The files that they returned she had requested by sealed tightly because she didn’t want to accidently drop it and have those gory folders come flying out again. She had been in the elevator trying to balance her coffee and it dropped from her hand. Laura and her had bent to collect the photos that came out and Laura nearly lost her lunch at the sight of a man, who was duct taped to a chair with an ax shoved in the side of his head, and a clear boot print over the side of his face. They had both gagged, shoved them back in the folder and then didn’t speak to each other for two days. The STRIKE team had a particular function, to go and do the dirty work. Sometimes no questions asked. They were dangerous and ready to well, Strike at any moment. So they practiced elsewhere, but still where everyone could see. SHIELD was good at flaunted their power, flexing their muscles. 

Next to her a skinny, brunette shadow lumbered up the exercise bike next to her. Jane looked tired and weary and the way she always looked when she had to come to the gym. Her hair was in a tight bun and she gave Darcy a bright smile but Darcy could see how tired she was. Clearly her new interns weren’t doing a good job. 

 

“Top of the morning to you!” Darcy chirped happily and handed the woman the bottle of water that she always forgot. Jane took it gratefully and started to cycle next to her, both of them silently watching the STRIKE team brutally take each other down. Somebodies nose had started bleeding turning the normal blue mat to a strange purple. 

“Any more news on the .. you know.. admirer?” If there was anyone more excited than her about the admirer it was Jane. Jane was always her biggest supporter, even before Donna. So when Darcy had called her up after she received her second gift Jane squealed for a while and then helped Darcy brain storm. They back tracked through their ongoing message about the gossip in at the coffee cart for any clues and there weren’t any. Jane had suggested she go down to speak to Thomas in medical, but Darcy wanted to wait for more clues before going the easy way. 

“Nope.” Darcy was a little down about that fact, she had thought, for a while that finding him (or her) would be easy. There were only so many people that she saw on a regular basis, and she figured that it had to be one of them. And if it wasn’t, than she was just out of luck.   
“I’m going to ask around the coffee cart today.” She said. She nodded her head in satisfaction at her decision. She had originally held off because she didn’t want to start the office gossip train, but she felt at this time like it would be the best course of action. 

As the sounding whistle blew they got off the bikes and went over to where the other people were gathering. In the beginning they had separated the men’s and women’s classes, but that had been a bit silly because it’s not like you got to pick the gender of the person that you fought. So they stood there listening to their instructors. Jane was drug off by her partner, Tammy – a bulky, older woman who spent most of her time panting in Jane’s face. Jane gave her a pitiful look as she was dragged away. Darcy squared off against her partner. Shane Louise was a lower level archives agent, he was tall and scrawny, and still got more hits than her in usually. They danced around each other for a moment, his cheeks becoming flushed from exertion which was exactly why Darcy got on the cycle first. She threw a few punches at him, which he easily dodged. She then threw herself around his waist taking him down. It was the only way that she was able to get him down. After she helped him up and they shook hands they danced some more. He put one step forward, and swung out a swift right hook, which she easily dodged. But It was the left hand that she didn’t see coming that knocked the wind out of her. She heard the hit before she felt it. The fleshy, buoyant sound bounced off of her skin and strangely echoed around the room. 

Then she felt it. 

It was a burning, thick feeling on her face. She landed on her side and immediately rolled in the fetal position, cradling her injured face. She let out a low moan. She could hear Jane’s dramatic gasp and then the sound of tennis shoes rushing her way. She didn’t know if it was embarrassment or anger or pain but when her eyes rose up and she met the eyes of the STRIKE team leader, she immediately blacked out. Her last thought, “Of course I get knocked out in front of all of STRIKE.” 

 

 

Darcy was laying on the cot facing the wall when medical assistant Thomas walked in. 

“Your friend is waiting in the hall for you, she’s a bit frantic. I told her you’ll be free to go in just a while.” She lifted the ice as he came around the corner, he looked a little sympathetically at her. She had been brought to medical and woke up in the elevator. She had been taken down where she had an x-ray and was given some ice. Her eye immediately began to swell and turn violet. 

“It’s just your standard black eye, the laceration you have we will bandage but it doesn’t need stitches.” She sat up and watched as he sanitized his hands and began to prepare bandages. 

“Uh.. Thomas was it?” she asked as he rubbed some ointment on her cut above her eye. 

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’m Darcy Lewis.” She introduced. 

“I know.” He chuckled. She looked at him curiously. 

“Everyone knows who you are. Fury sings your praises. Well, as much as Fury could. ‘Bring It to my assistant!’ he never did that with Jody. Plus, you’re the longest and least experienced assistant Fury’s ever had. But probably the best. We don’t have invoices coming in from three months ago.” He chuckled. 

Inside, Darcy felt a warm sensation like pride. She had for a long time been wanting to impress those around her, and hearing the praise like that made her feel better about her position. More certainty. She had been so hesitant to come to SHIELD sure she would not fit in.   
“Well, thank you, for that. You don’t know how much that means to me. I was actually wondering because I know that a couple of days ago someone gave you some flowers to make sure that you got them to me, I was wondering if you could tell me who that is. So you know, I can thank them.” She smiled at him. He plastered on the last bandaged and slumped down into his rolling chair. 

“Oh. No-can-do Ms. Lewis. He’d kill me.” He said. Darcy’s brow rose. 

“Surely that’s an exaggeration. He would do no such thing. Come on, I just want to know. No one has to know you told me.” 

“No can do, He’ll find out. Look…” He glanced around . “What if I give you a hint?” He said. Darcy nodded eagerly as she folded through her bag for her regular work clothes. 

“It’s probably.. the last person you’d expect.”

“Fury?” She blurted. 

He choked a little, “No!” 

She breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Well thanks I guess.” She said. He stood and gave her one more smile before stepping out of the room, after him came Jane, who began to flutter around her anxiously. 

“You okay?” 

“Peachy.” She said dryly as Jane helped her strip out of her clothes. Jane gave her the ‘be serious’ look. 

“I just got knocked out in front of my whole class and in front of a league of highly trained assassins.” She said stepping into her yellow dress and then into her soft low yellow heels. 

“You okay to work?” Jane looked at her, concerned. 

“Yes.” They walked out together, people stopping and looking at Darcy, causing her face to flush in embarrassment. She gave Jane a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she exited the front and turned to go up to Fury’s office. She passed her desk and walked right into Fury’s office, giving her requisite knocks. Fury was on the phone and his visible eye was twitching so it was probably part of the council. She walked over and slumped into one of the chairs, and looked at him blandly. At one look at her face he took the phone from his face and slammed it on the handle. 

“The fuck happened to you?” He asked. She sighed, looking away. 

“You didn’t hear? I took a punch to the face in self defense.” She said. He chuckled low in his throat. 

“I thought I should come to tell you before I started up the office gossip train.” She said, standing. 

“Lewis?” He called. 

“Director?”

“Go home. Ice the face?”

She smiled at him. 

“Thank you Director.”

He gave her a slight twitch of the lips, that was his smile. 

“Can’t have my best assistant on her last leg.” She gave him a full smile at that and started out, but paused going past her desk to the elevator. Because where there had been nothing before, there was a large bouquet of yellow roses sitting on her desk. 

 

 

Shane Louise turned the corner in the archives and paused. Because he could have sworn that he saw a shadow in the dark. He had been seeing that all day, since the incident this morning. And while he sent a big email to Darcy Lewis apologizing and gifted her a hundred dollar Apple card in her mailbox he still felt terrible. He didn’t mean to hit her. He had fully expected her to dodge, as she usually did. 

He put the box in place and turned away, ready to leave for a day when he jumped and yelped, because in front of him was standing Brock Rumlow. Everyone knew who he was STRIKE leader and the man with the muscles, he was an intimidating man to see. Shane had seen him take down someone in the lobby once, he moved so fast, and so fluid, that he’d barely been recognizable. Not to mention that it was Shane’s job to file away all of Rumlow’s … jobs. 

Leaning there, against the bookshelf with a sucker in his mouth, he didn’t look so intimidating but Shane knew better. He had seen the man quite a few times, as he frequented the vault to get information on his hits and misses. Brock Rumlow had no misses.

He gulped. 

“M-M-Mr.Rumlow Can I help you?” The man curled up from his position leaning against the shelf, looking all the while like a panther, rolling into a crouch. 

“You can.” The man took one giant step forward, grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and yanked him off the ground and into the air. His back hit the shelf, and his breath was knocked from his lungs, he found himself nose to nose with the STRIKE master.

“If you ever lay hand on Darcy Lewis ever again, I will put you into so many pieces that each one of these boxes will have a piece of you. You understand me, boy?” He said. And then set Shane down again, Shane was sweating profusely, and he was clenching hard to hold in the urine that seriously wanted to escape. 

“Got it. Got is Sir.” He stammered. 

And then the man sauntered off, blending easily and silently into the shadows. Shane let out a shaky breath and began to page down to the front; perhaps he needed to take the rest of the day off. If only to avoid the angry Rumlow for the next eight hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I tell you how proud I am of this story? So proud. I like to think it's the best thing I've written yet. Let me know what you think!


	3. The Coffee Cart Full of Rocks and Plumbers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee  
> Plumbers  
> Rocks

The coffee cart was located on the east solid wall of the 9th floor. Right across from accounting, and right under the lunch room, it was a place where assistants everywhere came for a breath of fresh air. Also where they came for the coffee. Originally they had had coffee in all the departments but that had caused the great Coffee war of 2012, wherein every department was practicing their espionage skills buy stealing and spying on the other people’s coffee racks. It all came to an end when someone stole Fury’s favorite, vanilla chai coffee. The email that went out had a record 57 expletives and a bottom signing that said ‘My assistant will find you, and kill you.’ – the coffee thief was never found, to their disappointment and the thief’s relief. Since then, the coffee that was given to departments was relegated to the coffee cart. 

However there were only certain times you could go that it wasn’t being mobbed, this was the only coffee in the building that didn’t taste like motor oil, so you were either trampled or you had put up with the ground-filled sludge they called coffee in the cafeteria. 

Darcy approached tiredly. She could see Laura, Rebecca (Head of HR Assistance.), Joe Fisher (Head of Medical assistant) and Vivian Roe (random secretary.) She ambled up, straitening her skirt and her thin short sleeved turtle neck. 

“How’s the eye DoubleD” Joe asked, he was shoving a doughnut in his face. He had a smattering of crumbs all over his face and big smile on. His cheeks were ruddy red and he was wearing the standard seafoam scrubs, Darcy gave him the stink eye because she knew he wasn’t supposed to be having sweets, his blood sugar was through the roof. He set the doughnut down on the cart and gave her a baleful smile.  
“It’s fine. I got most of the swelling down last night. Still looks gross.” She groaned, they scoot out of the way so she could make herself and Fury their coffee. She had come in with two coffee’s for each of them, and they had both downed them in record time. It had been a long day for both of them with Fury preparing to present to the Council, and everyone in all the departments turning in their end of the months reports for filing. Darcy had over 500 reports to enter and she had only gotten about 80 of them done. They had to be in the system by the end of the week. 

“It’ll heal.” He said. Patting his belly. 

“Any more gifts?” Laura asked, giggling from her position beside the cart, leaning against the wall. 

She had mysterious little smirk on her face and had been whispering to Vivian. It was well known around the office world that Vivian Roe had a bit of a nasty streak. Particularly when it came to Darcy. She had gone out for the position of Fury’s assistant before Darcy had even made the call to SHIELD, and apparently she had been – this close – to the job, when Fury had closed the opening and put the newly trained, never before been a corporate assistant Darcy in place. And for the most part, in the beginning, Darcy had felt kind of bad for her. She was not naïve to her situation. She was aware that she was in a special position and one of the highest offered, but that however didn’t give Vivian the right to be a bitch. She had even rubbed Jane the wrong way.

“Nope.” Darcy said. And it was a lie, and she felt a little bad for lying to Laura but something told her to not tell the woman in front of Vivian. So she went on making her coffee as the two women started away, giggling to themselves probably going to the cafeteria. Rebecca gave her a sympathetic look. 

“Sometimes I feel like we’re still in high school.” And Darcy could understand that sentiment. 

“You going to the corporate dinner?” 

Every year the company that was SHIELD tried to show their appreciation to all of the people who worked with them, it was a big fancy dinner and all the departments and department heads went. Except, like the Christmas Dinner, Fury told her not to go. (“It’s just a dick waving contest. There’s always a fight and a big argument that I have to fucking sort out… hand me that orange folder would you?”) So she was unsure. 

“I don’t know.” She was wary. Rebecca handed her a tray so she could balance all four of the coffee’s on it to take back upstairs. 

“If you decide on going… let me know if you want to do some shopping or something..” She said shyly. Darcy looked back at Rebecca who was blushing a bit. She thought about the woman for a second, and noticed that she had never seen her with another employee, she was relatively new. 

“Sure Beck” She smiled at her and started toward the elevator. She waited patiently for the doors to open and when they did, she thought for a second about waiting for the next one. Because inside was the whole SHIELD STRIKE time that she had been working to avoid. 

 

The elevator was packed and hot and she pushed her way to the back, trying to avoid as many eyes and tense arms as she could. 

“Director.” She told the elevator. She then stood, in the middle of the packed elevator holding the coffee tray close to her chest (Well as close to her chest as her DD’s would allow) They had obviously just dropped off the jet and were still in their tactile clothing. The back that was in front of her had dirt across it, and across the way a man was leaning against the back wall had blood smattered on his tactile shirt. Darcy’s nose wrinkled a bit. She shuffled around and tried to look anywhere but up. 

“How’s the eye?” The voice was monotone and seemed mostly disinterested, she looked to find the speaker but with all the backs facing her she found it hard to find which one of the men had been speaking to her at all! So she addressed them all. In a quite and plaintive voice she said,“It’s fine.” She knew that it didn’t look fine, however. 

She knew that it was slightly swollen blue and green and a small laceration over her eye. She had spent most of the morning carefully brushing over it with a foundation brush, and then washing it off. 

She didn’t get a response and didn’t expect to, however when the elevator came to a smooth, nearly motionless stop on the directors floor she was a tad surprised to see them getting off as well. They marched into the directors office, and she scurried over to the door, giving her signature knock she let herself in and the STRIKE team followed, she set the coffee’s down lightly and backed out before she could hear anything. But before she could shut the door she locked eyes with one of the members. He stood a head shorter than the tallest member, his hair was close cropped to his face, he had amazing bone structure, giving him a striking, hawkish look. And his eyes, His eyes were the color of warm bourbon, a swirling honey brown that seemed to take her apart as he stood there. Realizing that she was standing in the doorway and gaping, she shut the door solidly and turned to her desk. Before realizing that there was something there that hadn’t been before. 

 

 

Jane examined it, tossing it back in forth in her hand, bringing it so close to her face that Darcy thought for a moment the other woman might lick it. She set it down on the table. 

“It’s pretty.” 

That, Darcy could not deny. Even under the weak lights in the restaurant it shone beautifully. The surface of it was smooth, and opaque white, and deep inside there were swirls of turquoise, purple and navy blue. The rock was beautiful, but it was just that, a rock. But as Darcy looked at she had felt oddly protective of it. It wasn’t just a rock. It was her rock. 

“Well I think it’s sweet.” Jane finally said, Darcy swirled a fry in the sauce at the corner of the plate. 

“You think so?” 

Yeah! It reminds me of pebbles .. you know like penguins and pebbles?” She giggled, and Darcy giggled right along with her, it was a funny thought that whoever might be giving her these things thinks of himself as some sort of a penguin. 

“I suppose.”

“How’s the water?”

Darcy let out a growl of frustration. 

The water in the bathtub had not gotten any better since the night before. She had taken to ladeling the excess water in the toilet as she showered, so it didn’t pool up as bad, standing in her own filth wasn’t something she was fond of. 

“I emailed my landlord, and he said he would call a plumber, but the expense would be on me.” Which didn’t make much sense but Darcy wasn’t going to argue with her landlord who already didn’t like her very much. 

“Darcy. You should just take Tony’s offer and move into the tower. I’ve not had any problems with my flat!” 

“No. I’m not taking handouts Jane. I like my apartment and I’ve not had a problem with it since this, oh and that bat thing.”

The infamous bat night. 

(Oh, the infamous bad night.)

She shuttered and looked at her friend, Jane was mostly the same. Shoulder length tawny hair, big eyes and her mouth twisted into a little smile. But Darcy could see the signs of change on her, dark circles under her eyes, a wrinkle near her eyes and tell tale worry of the teeth imprints under her bottom lip. The hand she tapped steadily on the table had no nails on it, all of them having been chewed steadily off. 

“Everything okay?” She asked cautiously. 

“They will be.” She gave a small smile. Darcy didn’t believer her, but didn’t speak more of it throughout the rest of the dinner. 

 

 

That night before she went to bed she tried to find a good spot for the rock. She placed it under the lamp on her bedside table and looked upon it as she fell asleep, her dreams the oddest combination of milk clear rock, splashing water and swirling bourbon depths.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW
> 
> So sorry you guys, long story short my signifigant other and I recently bought a small fixer-upper house that's supposed to house me, him and our three children, except... it's a little more fixer than we originally thought. You think water in the bathtub is bad? Try it shooting out of your drains, your washer machine and dishwasher all at the same time, While you have three kids running screaming and two of them still on the boob! Anyway, things have cooled down so I have time to post again! Yay! 
> 
> So here it is, drop me a note! What do you think? Rocks are totes cute right!


	4. Shoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plumbers seem to have suspicious recognition of the apartment.

Darcy spun absently in her chair and waited for everyone else to arrive. It was days like these that made her job not only stressful, but questionable. She had run into work that morning, drenched from the rain and spent the first ten minutes air drying her shirt under the hand drier in the bathroom. Then she spent the next hour under the wrath of a stressed out Fury, who tossed pens around the office and shouted at her about the papers that she had yet to finish, and the meetings he was supposed to be preparing for that she had no idea she was supposed to be hosting. Fury had lost his agenda, and therefore her agenda was also screwed. 

So she had finished off the last of the paperwork that she had taken home with her, and spent the night doing as well as cleaning out her bathtub full of water and calling plumbers, all of which seemed strangely familiar with her building. She then prepared conference room D for the monthly meeting. She set out tins of coffee and plates of muffins, bottles of water and the manilla folder and then sat and wait. Everyone generally ran pretty late at SHIELD, so she wasn’t surprised is when ten minuets went by and no one came. Darcy was just beginning to dose slightly on the table, when the door creaked open. A lone figure sauntered in. He was tall and lean, and obviously STRIKE, he was the man with the honey eyes. 

Instead of taking a seat at the end of the table like she expected, he pulled the chair out across from her, the wheels made a soft dragging noise in the carpet, she flipped open her file to avoid looking at him and he took to flipping something up in the air, it bound up into the air and then landed heavily in his hand, making a solid small thump each time it did, the whizzing sound was clear in the silence of the conference room, Darcy took to rebooting her laptop. At the seventh rotation Darcy glanced up to see what it was that he was tossing, and was surprised to see a blade, bounding up in the air and landing solidly, handle side down into the rough palm of his hand. Startled her head jerked to meet his eyes, locking in on honey bronze colored eyes, that shone brightly under the florescence, under the lights he was in vivid detail, his razor sharp cheek bones, leading to full pouty lips, a scar on his right cheekbone, thin and bright under the lights. He gave her a small, wolfish smile. 

“I was wondering how long you could avoid eye contact.” He said, his voice was pure gravel, a low purr that sent the odd race or two down her spine. 

“Excuse me?” Was the only coherent thing she could think to say. 

“Humans. It’s not natural for us to avoid eye contact, because we’re predators, you see.” 

“I don’t understand.”

“We want to keep eyes on them, ya know. Eyes on the prey.” 

That was the last word she heard from him before she was silenced from the opening of the conference room door sliding open and people flooding in with their spreadsheets and charts, but her eyes couldn’t move to document who came and who went, they instead stayed locked on the human across from her, dark eyes swirling with mischief and something darker, something brewing. Fury took the seat at her right and clicked on the projector, the screens and slides played but Darcy didn’t pay that much attention to them. Because even though she had turned her eyes away, she could still feel his drilling into her. She tried to keep up, jotting her notes down with her blue glitter pen, but it was oh so distraction, in the best of ways. 

As she shifted further in her seat, she felt something brush strongly against her heeled foot, she jolted back, figuring it to be nothing but the pole under the table, when it happened again, this time closer she knew it not to be a pole under the table, but a foot. 

He was playing footsy with her. 

She was tempted to jerk her foot back and send him the affronted look that he deserved, and she knew it was him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that his expression didn’t change, he remained staring straight ahead at the projector, though there was no change in face, she knew it was him. 

She moved closer minutely, untraceably and waited. When he did it again, she made quick work of clasping his foot between both of hers. She could see the barely noticeable surprise jump on his expression. Bingo. She released it, and then turned back to the projection. Jotting down some notes and swiping Fury’s coffee when hers ran empty. He gave her a gentle side glare, probably feeling bad for yelling at her and assaulting her with pens earlier in the day. The man didn’t brush legs with her again, which made her both relieved and feeling a little self conscious. But it didn’t matter, she and Fury shuffled quickly from the meeting, he barked before her “Lewis!” And she scuttled after him, jotting down the rest of his agenda. 

Late afternoon found her looking at recipes on pinterest and watching the clock tick down, an email appeared in her box from her mother. She gave it a gentle glare before clicking it open, it was a usually account of things. Her family was doing well, planning a trip to Florida, her sister was planning her wedding, and the whole town was coming. Donna Lewis didn’t do anything halfway, and now that she had found Prince Charming, a corporate Lawyer in the next town, coming from an affluent family, with good ‘strong’ genes, she wasn’t about to keep it silent. Darcy hated that she sounded bitter, that she sounded anything less than happy for her sister. But it was hard when the most romantic thing that had happened to her in the last year was a rock being left on her desk and a man playing footsy with her under the corporate table. So she sent back a jolly email, detailing her excitement, and her redyness to come down for a visit, excited to see the maid of honor dress that was coming in the mail, and then sent it away and sat back. 

Darcy reflected, thinking of all the things that could have happened and could still happen, being a highschool Government teacher was out of the question at this point, meeting someone worthwhile who was going to show his face was seemingly out of reach, scolding herself for spending so much thinking time on men she made a quick beeline to splash water on her face, when she returned she flounced over to her seat, rolled back in and had every intention of going back to work when something stopped her. 

A Shoe, a small, miniature shoe that was actually upon further inspection a pencil sharpener. 

A smile broke on her face.  
Bingo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Making leeway, I'm thinking of extending the work 15 chapters, drop me a note! 
> 
> To answer a question, No in this Brock is not Hydra.


	5. The Files on Being Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes Darcy hated her job.

With a resounding clack of her heels, she fell into the SHIELD the next morning, with confidence. The confidence of knowing that she was on a mission. She had worn one of her favorite dresses in preparation for this. A quarter sleeve dress, that came just above her knee’s about mid-thigh, and a pair of thigh high suede boots with a low heel. Her favorite watch and a black sports jacket with a couple of lace buttons. Her hair was loosely curled, and she had painted on her purple lipstick.

She had deduced a few things the night previous as she scooped water out of her bathtub and into the toilet for disposing, the first was that she was going to have to be careful. Rumors spread like wildfire around the compound and she didn’t want to start anything if nothing came to light. The second was that she had to communicate with the least amount of people possible. In fact if she could do all of her research via computer, that would be best.   
She slid into her desk and checked her email, wrote Fury’s itinerary, and the knocked on his door. She poked her head in, he was there, as always, his face wrinkled in consternation, when he felt her stare on him with his third eye, he blinked up at her. 

“Lewis!” He barked, she skirted into the room and collapsed into one of the chairs, flipping open the itinerary she read him off his schedule. 

“You have a meeting with R&D at noon, I’m pretty sure they’re going to ask you for more money, and problem is, we don’t have any more, unless of course you want to combine labs with Tony Sta-“ He sent her a glare that promised the apocalypse if she finished her sentence so she rowed on, “After that the World Security Council has been trying to get ahold of you for days, maybe you could talk to them?” Another withering look. “You’ve got a meeting with STRIKE after lunch, and then down the vaults because Holt has your evidence files.” She gave him a smile and gestured at his desk, “And of course the mountains of paperwork.” At his nod she remained seated, when he realized she wasn’t getting up he shot her a look.

“Something you need Lewis?” He asked. She twirled a lock of hair in between her fingers. 

“I was wondering… about someone… or something..” She said. 

Spit it out Lewis I don’t have all day.” He gave her a glowering look with his one eye, like he was seeing right through her, and he probably was.   
“Theoretically speaking.” At this her perked his head up and gave her a dark glare. Those words had caused many an argument and pen to be thrown in this office (Theoretically speaking what if verbally attacked the head of the Finances?) (Theoretically speaking, say that I caused that minor explosion in the cafeteria?) (Theoretically speaking, say I got a little bit wasted and ordered like … a few hundred eye patches on Shield’s budget and they’re on their way here.?) At his glower she let out a nervous little giggle and looked away, “that I wanted to get ahold of some people in STRIKE, how would I do that?” That was obviously not what he was expecting her to say because his shoulders relaxed from their tense tilt. 

“The lower floors are usually where they are, do I want to know why you need to talk to them?” He asked, sounding both exasperated and slightly curious.   
“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ – and gave him her winning smile, though it never helped her win anything with him. 

“Lewis.” She looked innocently over at him. “Stay out of trouble please, you’re the best assistant I’ve had and I really don’t want to retrain anyone to do your job. Oh and Stark keeps calling, field is calls will you? I don’t need that bullshit today.” 

And with that she was off, she could still picture his face solidly in her mind, now she just needed a name to the face. And she knew just where to get that. 

The bottom floor was dedicated to the vault, a veritable sea of information, everyone who has ever walked through the doors of Shield has a file down there, so it was there that she went. And she knew just who to talk to. 

 

Shane Louise was just as tall and lanky as she remembered him being, with his mousy hair, and thick rimmed glasses. He was crouched over his desk, just beyond two armed guards who looked her way, but didn’t comment on her entering the vault. She was mostly allowed to go wherever she wanted to go, no one was going to question Fury’s assistant because they didn’t want the angry email or his steele toed boot shoved up their rear end. She rounded the corner into the vault, typed her passcode in and was let in with the slid of the glass doors. Standing at his desk, lanky and sipping a large cup of coffee was Shane Louise. 

“Hey!” She called, her voice echoed loudly in the vast space and she fought a wince. He spun on his heel and juggled his coffee cup for a moment, miraculously not spilling any as he stared her down. Her smile began to wan when she realized that his eyes were widening in what was obviously fear.   
“Ms. Darcy – I mean, Ms. Lewis.. I mean, Deputy Assistant Lewis, How can I be of service today?” He asked. She held up her hand to stop his stumbling rant.   
“Woah, woah, calm down. What’s with the formality? Was it because of the punch to the face, because it was an accident I know.” He paled at the mention of the accident. 

“It’s – I’m – I – I’m sorry.” He stammered. 

“No need, I came down here because I need some current files. Can you help me with that?” She asked. He nodded eagerly and bounded behind his desk, waking his computer. She paced in front of his computer looking around. Walls and walls of shelves with heavy files, some with boxes, the deeper you went into the vault, and there were three stories, the more you got. 

“Do you work this all by yourself?” She asked him, looking around, seeing no other desks or people.

“Yup” He drew the word out. “All right, what are we looking for?” 

“I need the current files of STRIKE, I need to know all the current members and I need all their files.” She said. His head popped up at that, which is what usually happened when STRIKE is involved. 

“I can print you’re a list of names and direct you to their current files. You’ll need the director’s override to get into the files though.” He said, apology in his voice. 

“That’s fine.” He worked the printer, four papers, back to pack came out, packed with names and numbers. He handed them to her, and then a small hand held. “Their files are located down the stairs, and to the right under code GGH3789, You should be able to pull them if you type in the file number of the person you’re looking for. That’s as good as it’s going to get.” 

“That, my sassy Shane, is enough. Thank you.” She took off at a fast walk down toward the end of the vault and took a sharp right, heading down the stairs. She found GGH378 really easily. She sat on the floor in front of the files wall and looked at the papers. She was looking for a male, so using the marker she kept in her boot she marked off all the female names, few and far between that they were. Then she knew she needed one that was in a team that was at home base, so that marked off another 40 names. That left 55 names. Since he was in the meeting, he had to be someone of high rank, that left 6 names. So she pulled all six files ahead. Typing in Fury’s override she laid the six files on the floor and flipped all of them open. 

And there he was, file 3. Tall, dark and handsome. 

Brock Rumlow. 

She gathered up the files and replaced them as best as she could. She tucked the files away, writing the name on the inside of her thigh, way up by her underwear with the marker so that she wouldn’t forget she waved a heavy goodbye to Shane and headed toward the front doors. She had wasted three hours, and thought that she and Fury (Who she was going to butter up to ask if she could use his computer, because there was no better way to get information than to take it from the source.) deserved some fancy coffee. The coffee shop across the street from the towering SHIELD building was tiny and cute and made the best sweet Irish coffee. As she stood in line she checked her phone, numerous missed calls from Tony Stark, with whom Fury had fielding the calls to her so that he could effectively avoid the man all day, a few from Jane and some texts. Mostly from her sister. 

As she crossed the road to get back into the building, two things happened. The guards that stood in front of SHIELD pointed their guns to the sky, and something that sounded like a missile landed in front of her. Bright red, with gold accents and a distinctive helm, was the Iron Man suit, and inside of it, Tony Stark, blasting, apparently ACDC. Without much further ado, he snagged her by the waist, threw her over his shoulder and blasted back into the sky.

Sometimes Darcy hated her job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did this chapter seem fast? That's because it was. I can't wait until the next chapter you guys have no idea!


	6. Deal or No Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sir! Darcy Lewis just pulled up in a cab... and someone's bath robe!"

There were a few things that Darcy thought the moment she was lifted off the ground. The first was that all of New York could see her underwear, so she was glad that she had picked a nice pair, they were lacy boy shorts, and apparently they were on display. 

The second was that she was going to have to explain this in a report later. Fury was all about the incident reports, once time she tripped up two steps on the stairs when the elevator broke and she had to fill out a three page document that took her two days, “Accidental Injury on Stairwell B, midday” report, there was also one for morning and night. And then she was basically interrogated by Shield Insurance. 

And the third was that she was going to Kick Tony Stark’s ass. She hadn’t done much combat training, but she felt like she had enough to make up for this. 

They only flew the air for a few moments, she kept her eyes open, because that was part of her training, you don’t close your eyes, you keep them open, so you can see all the things around you. So you can take in stock of facts and license plates and directions so you can formulate your escape. They landed on the helipad of Stark tower, he set her on the ground, and little mechanic hands bound out and began to undo his suit. She stood and dusted herself off, swiped her hand over her dress, smoothed her hair, and pulled her underwear out of her ass. She waited patiently until Tony stark had disengaged from the suit. She stood, hands locked in front of her. He stepped out fully, in some kind of black outfit, that was probably designed to wick away sweat. 

“So this the famous Darcy!” He opened his big cow mouth and she took two paces forward, and took a swipe at his head with her foot. 

It was on. 

 

 

Nicholas J. Fury was not having a good day. Before he became director, there were a few things he wished he’d gotten from Howard, like the fact that 70% of the job was simply filing out paper work. He’d long ago fell to carpel tunnel from the constant pushing of the pen. So he switched everything to digital, better track of things, typing instead of writing, better security, the only problem was that once something broke, everything broke. 

It had happened it IT last night, and now spread up to his computer, which was malfunctioning spectacularly. The IT manager, Henry Meads, was standing in front of his computer, sweating profusely. 

“I don’t know what’s happening. I think those computers we got.. they might be malfunctioning, over heating and then once they over heat they stop saving and lose data.” He said. He had his tools on him, but had yet to use one, just pressed the palm of his hand against the monitor on the computer. 

“Where did we get these damn computers?” 

“The electronic store.” He said. Flushing. 

“Not Stark? You’re telling me we’re doing all of our work on unsecure, non-Stark computers!?” He shouted. Them an trembled a bit, his large, double chin wobbled with the effort.

“We never got the budget approved! We couldn’t afford ONE stark computer, let alone a thousand!” He said. Fury pinched his nose and glared balefully at the IT manager. 

“So how do we get the data back, I’ve got files on there damn it!” He shouted. 

“Well… we can try.. but, there’s a low chance we’ll get all of them back.”

“How low?” He growled.

“Like…. Really low… like …5% low…” He muttered. Fury was just working through whether he should throw a fit, fire all of IT and finances or just call Stark when his door slid open with a band and three STRIKE officers came in, led by office Rumlow. 

“Sir Darcy Lewis has been kidnapped.” He spoke through clenched teeth, arms clinching inside and out, he pushed his head side to side, neck popping. 

“By who!” He barked. This was not what he wanted to hear. 

“Tony Stark.” 

 

 

Her foot barely grazed him before her jumped back and grabbed it and tossed her to the side, she landed in a crouch and launched herself at him, legs wrapped around his hips, throwing him off balance and to the side. 

“Sir.” A disembodied voice came through ceilings overhead. “Shall I call for assistance.” 

“No.” He grunted. Darcy threw him with her legs to the ground and grabbed his forehead with her hands and squeezed. “Wow you are one angry lady. I’d be mad if the view wasn’t so spectacular” He leered at her breasts. She brought her forehead down on his nose, the bridge split but didn’t break, causing blood to smear on her forehead. His hand flew up and pushed to the side by her cheek, tossing her to the ground, she rolled and got up at a run, tackling him before he could stand all the way up, launching punches at his chest and shoulders. 

He tossed her again, she rolled into the apparent conversation pit he had in his sky lab. Down two stairs she tumbled her dress wound up around her hips. She pulled herself up by the leg of the table as he landed on her back and pushed her back down. He grasped her flailing wrists and trapped them behind her back. 

“Hey! Calm down! It was only a small kidnapping.” He said, She tried to flail but he had her wrists. So she relaxed her body in the carpet, breathing hard. She let her head fall forward, cheek resting on the unbelievably soft carpet. 

“You calm? You calm now?” She didn’t respond. “Jesus, I now know why you’re Fury’s assistant.” He let go of her wrists slowly and stood, it took her only a moment to swipe his ankles so he fell forward, she twisted him around until he was on his stomach. 

“Sir, do you need help now?” The voice asked again. 

“Nope.” Tony struggled out. She leaned down and ripped the side of her dress and secured his hands and feet with it. And then looked down at her handiwork. Tony Stark, hog tied and ready to go. 

“How about now?” The voice asked dryly. 

 

 

Jack Rollins didn’t know what crawled up Rumlow’s ass. He’d known the man for over a decade, they’d been in training camp together, and while Rumlow had excelled so much farther than the rest of them, his head stayed firmly on earth. He’d seen the man in some of the most stressful situations on earth, gun to the head? Cool as a cucumber. Bleeding profusely from the chest? No sweat. Jumping from an 89 story building with no parachute and only a rope and hook to get down? Regular Monday morning. Something happened to Darcy Lewis? All hell breaks loose. 

Jack supposed that Brock that he was being discrete. But Jack knew the man better than his own family did. He was the man’s roommate! He knew that he didn’t like Greek yogurt, he only drank soda at room temperature and is not a morning person. So he knew the signs when his partner started to take interest in Darcy Lewis. 

Everyone knew of Darcy Lewis, she was hard to miss. In the sea of blue and black, she wore bright yellow, or fiery red, or dark blooming plumb purple. She was a natural beauty in an unnatural habit and she was Fury’s only assistant (Besides Hill, who lasted a whole three days and then was promoted to a job where she didn’t have to be in constant contact with the director) that lasted longer than ten hours. The director thought she hung the moon. She kept the engine pumping with fresh oil. It had all started out fairly small, he can remember the little details the day he noticed his best friend taking interest in the woman. 

She was in her yellow dress. It was a yellow dress, with a white bird print on it and bright white pumps, she had gotten into the elevator and was talking on the phone, negotiating with one of the department heads. She was holding one of the largest coffee’s he’d ever seen and her lips were drawn bright red. 

(“Look, I can try – but the budget is tight this month. R&D really sucked us dry and we have to pay Stark his monthly due. I’m just trying to be honest with you, Jerry. Don’t curse at me! I didn’t do this. I didn’t make the deal with Stark. Look you keep taking that tone with me – I’m not trying to be a stickler but … Okay. I’m done playing nice with you. You take the money or leave it. If you don’t want it, that’s fine, I’ll use it to put a Chipotle in the cafeteria – that’s fine, be angry. And Jerry? Jerry? You can tell Mr. Brimmings he can kiss my ass if he thinks I’m giving him a cookie, for doing what he was supposed to be doing anyway.”) 

And that must have been it. Because after that he’d followed Brock’s wandering eyes to her figure every day. So today, around mid after noon, when Darcy Lewis was plucked out of the sky Brock Rumlow lost his shit. 

“We gotta get there!” He barked, spittle flying, the angry pulse in his skull going and going. He was pacing up and down in STRIKE’s intelligence office, watching the footage over and over. 

“We cant move until Fury says so, you now that.” Jack said to him. 

“Sir-“ Agent Justin Prose tried to interrupted. 

“Try Fury again!” He was trying to get ahold of Fury who was MIA at this point. 

“Sir – “

“Agent Prose unless you have something important to say – “ 

“Darcy Lewis just arrived in a cab. And someone’s bathrobe.” 

 

Darcy Lewis sat cross legged in front of her hogged tied Tony Stark. 

“What do you want Stark?” She asked him. He looked at her incredulously from his perch on the floor. 

“I can’t believe you’ve tied me up.” 

“I cant believe you kidnapped me and showed the whole world my underwear. Now. What do you want?” she asked. He pouted, realizing he wasn’t getting his way. 

“I’ve been trying to get ahold of Fury – “

“Why?” 

“I have his tech. It’s ready. But he can’t have it yet because I need a couple of … test drives.” 

“What kind of tech?”

“Cars. Batmobile like things. Indestructable.” He clicked his tongue. “All I need is Fury’s signature, except he won’t give it to me… because I sort of made these off the books.”   
“Off the books?” Stark had this problem wherein he thought that when Fury said one thing like ‘I need airplanes.’ – and Stark instead builds batmobiles. 

“He wanted jets.” 

Bingo.

“I’ll cut you a deal Stark.” She said, looking around at her surroundings. “You get the video’s of me jetting up into the air and flashing the world my Calvin Kleins off the internet, you get a cab and I’ll get Fury’s signature.” She said. 

“Pepper wont let me stay tied up.” Tony said defiantly. 

“Sir I’d like to interrupt.” The voice said again, “Ms. Potts has become aware of your …. Borrowing … and she doesn’t sound happy. Something about… never seeing sunlight again?”  
Tony Stark let out a squeak like a little girl. 

“So.” Darcy smirked. “Deal or no Deal?”

“Deal” He grunted. 

Darcy stood, and looked down at her tattered dress, and to where Tony was unabashedly staring up her dress. 

“Also, I’m going to need to borrow some clothes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there,   
> Drop me a note!   
> (All things marvel realted, I do not own.)


	7. The Plumbers Tell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is

Darcy huffed her way into the building, with a carefully tucked file under her arm, snuggled tight in a five star bathrobe. She had dumped the shoes too, and was striding in barefoot. People stared, but she didn’t mind. After untying Stark she made him go find her a sandwich, she ate that as she went over the plans that he had designed. They were great, as usual. They went over the base design the cost and the ordering process before she made him give up a bathrobe and give her a ride back. They ended with him asking her if she wanted a job, she gave him a warning look and got out of the vehicle. 

Now she was traipsing her way back through SHIELD, wearing a bathrobe and her bare feet, and of course, talking on the phone.

“No Jane, I’m fine. I mean.. I’ve got a headache coming on, but I’m fine” She tried to assure her friend, who had started in on hysterics the moment she called her back. 

“Darcy you have to know I had no idea he would do this!” Jane pleaded. 

“Oh I know. I think he planned to try and burst in through Fury’s office. But he saw me and plans changed, don’t worry I got my revenge.” She assured. 

“I know.” Jane giggled. “I could hear Stark complaining we’re all waiting for Pepper to get the video!” She let Jane have her moment of hilarity, a smile on her face.

“I’m alright Jane.”

“Okay, but I’m coming over tonight. We have to look at your bathtub. I called around for plumbers today, but none of them would come.” Jane said, sounding confused. 

“None of them would come?” She said. 

“Yeah. So I called Metro City Plumbing and they said they had a history at your apartment, and that there was nothing they could do. The man I talked to, actually said he would recommend just moving.” Darcy gaped at that. 

She loved her apartment! They let her do all she wanted in it, they even let her paint. She didn’t want to move. 

“I guess I’ll just try to get ahold of my landlord about it.” She said, although he was always mysteriously absent. 

“Do that. I’ll see you tonight.” Darcy hung up with Jane and continued her trudge through the hall. 

People paused what they were doing to stare at her, like legitimately stopped in the middle of the hall to stare at her. She waved awkwardly at Barbra from the front desk, and while she was walking past it snagged a coffee from the cart. 

She shuffled awkwardly up to the door of the office, Fury’s office was packed, way more busy than he liked it to be. She could see through the fogged wall all sorts of people milling about as well as hear the voices from inside flow evenly into the hallway. Using her key pass that she had swiped off of her dress she let herself in. 

At first, it didn’t look like anyone had noticed her. They were at her desk, rifling through her drawers, going through her computer, there were also people in Fury’s office. But there were little things. Fury’s door was wide open and she could hear him shouting, Timothy from IT, was cowering in the corner and Fury’s computer was laying in bits on the ground and all of STRIKE was leaning ominously up against the back wall talking quietly to each other.   
She could only take the chaos for so long, she had just come down from her adrenalin rush, and the headache that followed was close behind. So this chaos just wouldn’t do. 

She whistled. 

“What’s going on here!” She asked. There was a brief silence, and Fury mowed a few people over to get a look at her, and then the voices began to swell again.   
“Lewis!” Fury barked and mowed a few more people over. Tim from IT practically dove out of the way from Fury’s stomping boots. He grasped her by the shoulders, gave her a good shake and looked her in the eye. 

“We need a full report!” He barked. Silence followed. 

“Lewis. Now!” He barked. 

“Um” She yelped. “Stark wants me to give you these plans! And then I want to know what’s going on here, and then I want to go put some clothes on.” 

It seemed then that Fury noticed she was only in a bathrobe. He lept back from her, she took that moment to hand him the file. 

“Damn computer went out.” He said. She looked down at the dead things on the ground, it’s bits and pieces scattered about all over the floor. “Can’t get any of my files!” 

“Why didn’t you just get them off my flash drive?” She asked. If silence had prevailed before, awkward silence ruled now. 

“What flash drive?”

“The one that’s in your top drawer… it’s pink.. it has all your files on it.” She said. He gave a strict nod to one of the lackey’s who raced back into the office to get the drive. 

Darcy’s eyes drifted over to the darkly dressed individuals against the far wall, they were all there shoulders tight and glaring at her. Except the one next to.. him.. he was tall, with blue eyes and a lopsided smile like he knew something she didn’t. His eyes locked on hers and then drifted to the slightly shorter man to his left, Brock. And the smirk grew. Darcy Flushed. 

“Sir. Permission to go and change?” She asked. Fury looked over at her bathrobe again, and nodded at her. 

“Lewis?” He called before she shuffled out toward the elevators. 

“Yes?”

“Take a vacation day. Expect a call later, and I’ll handle Stark.” He said. Darcy exited, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu as she inched toward the elevator. She stood in the elevator, back to the doors for a moment, excited at the prospect of going home and nursing her growing adrenaline headache. When the elevator came to an abrupt stop. She turned and looked at the door, prepared to dodge out of the way if a crowd was coming in. Instead it was just one man. 

Brock Rumlow came barging into the elevator, nose huffing like a raging bull, breathing heavily through his nose she could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. She opened her mouth to say what – she didn’t know. But he spoke over her. 

“Where are your clothes?” He asked. 

“Uh-“

“You just get kidnapped and come back naked!” He barked at her, she flinched at the volume. He punched a fist into the wall stalling the elevator. 

“I’m not naked! I have my bra and underwear on!” She said back. 

“Where are the rest of your clothes?”

“They ripped!” She said, 

“From doing what?” He yelled back. She was taken aback. She stood, arms crossed, legs shoulder width apart, locked. 

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” 

“Anything that has to do with you, is my business.” He snarled at her. 

“I don’t see how!” He stalked the step forward it took to get to her. His arms came around the sides of her head, corded and thick, tanned skin encased her. The smell of him consumed her, it was thick and musty, but warm and inviting her, part of her wanted to snuggle in closer. But part of her, from his violent verbal outburst danced back. 

“Because, Darcy Lewis. I will not be having anything happening to you. So I need you to tell me what he did to you.” 

“That’s not an answer.” 

His hands flew up, and for one horrifying moment, she thought he might have struck her, instead both of his large, battle roughed hands grasped her face and brought her close, his rough lips rubbing over hers. His mouth was warm and soft, wet and slightly chapped. His slight facial hair rubbed at her, but it was pleasing, it made her want to rub her thighs together. His hands buried in her hair and drew her closer to him. With their bodies pressed together she got the urgent feel to rub against him, her soft and subtle and him hard and dramatic, with his rough muscles and edges. He separated from her with another solid kiss to her cheeks. 

Flushed and impressed Darcy said, “That’s still not an answer.” 

“Because you have my name on your thigh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a shorter chapter, but I liked it! What say you???
> 
> Anything Marvel related I do not own.

**Author's Note:**

> Drop me a note, what do we think?


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